Aer Lingus passengers had to spend last night in Rome after a flight was cancelled due to a combination of industrial action in Italy and technical difficulties.
Approximately 156 passengers were forced to spend an extra night in Rome. Although Aer Lingus did provide accommodation in two hotels, problems organising this meant some passengers were still waiting for a hotel room at 6am. Passengers aren't entitled to compensation.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said the departure of a plane flying from Dublin to Rome was delayed yesterday due to a strike by air traffic controllers in Italy.
When this flight subsequently departed there were reports of a smell of gas in the aircraft and the plane diverted to Gatwick. The plane was checked out, no fault was found and it then completed its flight to Rome.
"At this stage the flight crew had run out of hours and we had to cancel the return Rome to Dublin flight until this afternoon at 2.30."
"We did provide accommodation but we had difficulty sourcing this accommodation for some passengers this took until 6am this morning," she said. All Aer Lingus flights to Italian cities were delayed yesterday including flights to Bolanga, Naples, Rome, Venice and Milan.
More than 200 flights were cancelled and many others delayed due to the four-hour air traffic controllers' strike in Italy, where unions are fighting for better contracts.
Italy's flag carrier Alitalia cancelled 196 flights, most of the them international.